Automated financial report creation and distribution

Purpose

1.1. To automate the compilation, formatting, and scheduled distribution of comprehensive financial reports (donation summaries, expense statements, and variance analyses) for Anglican churches, ensuring accuracy, consistency, regulatory compliance, and timely communication with leaders, committees, and congregation.
1.2. To centralize data collection from accounting software, donation tools, and bank feeds, merge into standardized reports, and deliver securely through email, cloud drives, and/or messaging platforms.

Trigger Conditions

2.1. Scheduled (e.g., end-of-month, quarterly, yearly) triggers via workflow platform.
2.2. Receipt or reconciliation of bank data/imported donation records.
2.3. Approval or sign-off by finance team on draft report in document management tool.
2.4. External event (e.g., request for report or threshold exceeded in donations/expenses).

Platform Variants

3.1. QuickBooks Online
• Feature: “Reports API” — set up OAuth, configure “RunReport” endpoint for Balance Sheet/P&L, example filter by date range.
3.2. Xero
• Feature: “Reports endpoint” in Xero API — configure P&L/Donation Summary report, set organization/period parameters.
3.3. Sage Business Cloud
• Feature: “Reporting API” — schedule export for account activity, donations, and expenses using filter options.
3.4. Zoho Books
• Feature: “Get Reports” API — trigger for specific report type, configure recipient email addresses and delivery schedule.
3.5. FreshBooks
• Feature: “Accounting Reports” endpoint — auto-generate financial summary, push to output folder.
3.6. Microsoft Excel Online (Office 365)
• Feature: “Excel Data Connector” — schedule macro or cloud script to compile and format report from synced sheets.
3.7. Google Sheets
• Feature: Google Apps Script — set time-driven trigger, consolidate sources, format, and export as PDF/CSV.
3.8. Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack
• Feature: “Reports & Dashboards” API — export donor summaries and attach to workflow.
3.9. Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT
• Feature: “Reporting API” — query for donation, giving, and financial activity, trigger report output.
3.10. Pushpay
• Feature: “Financial Reports Export” — auto-generate giving statements for specified intervals.
3.11. Planning Center Giving
• Feature: “Donations Endpoint” — extract summary, trigger send to distribution list.
3.12. Mailgun
• Feature: “Send Email API” — configure recipients, subject lines, attachment (report file).
3.13. SendGrid
• Feature: “Transactional Email” — API call with attached financial report, custom schedule.
3.14. Microsoft Outlook 365
• Feature: “Send Mail (V2)” — automate email creation with dynamic subject/content (report attached).
3.15. Google Drive
• Feature: “Upload File” API — save completed report to shared folder and set permissions.
3.16. Dropbox
• Feature: “File Upload” — store new reports, generate shareable links.
3.17. Slack
• Feature: “Files Upload” API — deliver report to specified channel/user; configure notification.
3.18. Teams (Microsoft)
• Feature: “Send file in chat/channel” — auto-notify leadership group with new report.
3.19. Trello
• Feature: “Create Card” via API — attach report, set due/completion date for finance tasks.
3.20. Asana
• Feature: “Attach File to Task” — link report to review workflow and assign for actions.

Benefits

4.1. Eliminates human error and manual compilation of financial data.
4.2. Ensures secure, timely delivery and archival of financial reports.
4.3. Centralizes workflows and maintains audit trails for compliance.
4.4. Increases transparency and accountability within church financial governance.
4.5. Allows leadership to focus on decision-making, not administrative effort.